


a gentleman sleuth

by their_dark_materials



Category: Knives Out (2019)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fanart, Gen, Journalism, Mixed Media, spoiler free
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:35:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21855352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/their_dark_materials/pseuds/their_dark_materials
Summary: "I read a tweet about a New Yorker article about you."This is that article. (Or, a mini-profile of Benoit Blanc.)
Comments: 22
Kudos: 98





	a gentleman sleuth

CULTURE DESK

**A GENTLEMAN SLEUTH**

_Benoit Blanc's charm makes murder less foul._

By Hitch Hastings

Crime-solving may be grizzly business, but when private investigator Benoit Blanc’s gets involved, cases tend to get wrapped up with no loose ends — no matter how messy the crime scene. But it’s not Blanc’s impressive track record that sets him apart from the competition (though surprisingly, private investigation as a field is full of it). No, that would be his neverending reserves of classic Southern charm, which marks him as a through-and-through gentleman.

“We hired him to figure out the truth about some threatening letters our father had received. Something about a dinner party,” explains Professor Martin Plum, a former client. “But he didn‘t just discover who was really responsible for the crime, he really listened to our concerns and held our hands every step of the way, in a way it didn’t feel like the police had.”

To hear Blanc describe it, all he did was look at the facts at hand and gently question any and all relevant suspects. But after even a minute in his company, watching him work it becomes clear that Blanc’s real secret weapon is his keen eye and attention to detail, something that even lead detectives seem to struggle with. A recent case saw him apprehend a jewel thief after only one hour of investigation, having spent most of that time conversing with her, ensuring she didn’t have a plausible alibi.

“I simply saw that Ms. Sandiego seemed to be favouring her left arm, no doubt due to the recent gash on her right one,” Blanc explains, over tea, one day, loathe as he is to talk about past exploits. “After that, it was merely a matter of waiting for the police to arrive. So I decided to spend the rest of my time poking holes in her story. You see, not everything can be explained as easily as one thinks.”

On the topic of the not-so-easily explained, is what led Blanc down this peculiar profession. He’d never held much aspiration to attend the police academy or even join the army — though his penchant for preciseness would suggest otherwise. Instead, he first started out as a young law student, eager to unravel legal problems with his sharp mind. But early on, he realised that it wasn’t the laws themselves that were particularly intriguing, as it was the people who got entangled in it, usually in an attempt to colour outside the lines of what most courts would define as legal.

“There’s no bigger mystery than why people do what they do,” muses Blanc late into our meal. “And sometimes I get paid to figure out why or how they did it.”

And while he may have started out taking any case that came his way — after he earned his private investigator’s license, of course — Blanc’s current client list boasts cases closed for a number of big names. Though Blanc insists it’s too gauche to mention any of them. Instead, he insists that he’s just interested anyone who pays his retainer upfront.

“After all,” he says, finishing up his drink. “The real payment is the mystery.” 

:::::

**Author's Note:**

> I've been obsessed with _Knives Out_ since the moment I saw it, so I wanted to make _some_ kind of fan art for it. And this seemed like a fun exercise. I included no spoilers for the movie within the article, because it's referenced within the movie so I wanted to keep it as canon-compliant as possible. (I did borrow the title from the movie. It was the only thing I could hastily scribble down as I watched it.) 
> 
> It was fun imagining what could be a potential background for Blanc, who shares a lot of traits in common with my most favourite detectives (Poirot and Holmes), and sneaking in little references to both Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock (two of director Rian Johnson's cited influences for the film), as well as the films _Clue_ and character _Carmen Sandiego_. In terms of art, it was cool to try and match the New Yorker's art style, (this is my lame attempt at paying homage to Stanley Chow who does a lot of official work for them) _and_ trying to write something that maybe could have been published by them. (I don't think they'd actually put out something with this informal a tone and light on the details, but I was weary about nailing down any hard and fast facts, and in any case, this was mostly for the exercise. 
> 
> If you have any questions, comments, or concerns (or maybe you just want to chat about the film) please come find me on Tumbr where I reside under @rustandruin.


End file.
